"SeaWorld plans bigger killer whale environments" by Marley Jay | Associated Press August 16, 2014
NEW YORK — After more than a year of public criticism of its treatment of killer whales, SeaWorld said Friday that it will build new, larger environments at its theme parks and will fund additional research on the animals along with programs to protect ocean health and whales in the wild.
The Orlando company said the renovations have been in the works for some time and are not a response to the documentary ‘‘Blackfish’’ or the criticism of the company that followed the release of the film.
The company’s shares, which are trading near their lowest point since SeaWorld listed its stock on public markets last year, rose Friday.
Like a whale rising from the water and ringing a bell?
But it remains to be seen whether the renovations will fully address concerns about keeping large marine mammals in captivity.
The 2013 documentary ‘‘Blackfish’’ suggested that captivity and SeaWorld’s treatment of the whales provoke violent behavior, which in turn has led to the death of trainers. Since the release of the film, a series of entertainers have pulled out of planned performances at SeaWorld parks.
But if you tweet about Gaza you are blackballed.
SeaWorld also recently said its longtime corporate partnership with Southwest Airlines is ending, and on Wednesday the company reported disappointing second-quarter financial results because of the backlash.
SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. says it will build a tank with 10 million gallons of water at its San Diego park, almost twice the size of the current tank with a depth of up to 50 feet. The new environment will be called the Blue World Project, and SeaWorld said it will include features that will be more stimulating for the whales. Those include a ‘‘fast water current’’ that will allow the whales to swim against moving water.
The facility will open to the public in 2018, and after that SeaWorld will make similar changes at its Orlando and San Antonio locations.
The company said the cost of the project will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars but would not specify the exact budget.
The company is also pledging $10 million in matching funds to support research focused on threats to killer whales, or orcas, in the wild. It also announced a $1.5 million commitment to a partnership focused on ocean health.
Former SeaWorld trainer Mark Simmons praised the moves, saying the new environments will provide the whales with mental stimulation that will help keep them healthy. He said the content of the whales’ environment is even more important than the size, and that SeaWorld’s trainers do a good job of interacting with the whales. He said the new features of Blue World Project will give them new tools that will let them improve.
‘‘I think it’s an enhancement, an obvious evolution of SeaWorld’s mission,’’ Simmons said in a phone interview. Simmons worked at SeaWorld Orlando from 1986 to 1996.
‘‘Blackfish’’ director Gabriela Cowperthwaite said the changes won’t please the public or improve the lives of its whales. She said that in captivity the whales are forcibly bred, separated from their families, and fight constantly for dominance. She added that the larger tanks may not mean the whales will have more room, as SeaWorld plans to expand to other countries and could use the additional space to breed the whales more often. ‘‘None of this would change in a bigger pool,’’ she said. ‘‘What people are upset about is that whales are not suitable to captivity.’’
What creature is? Lab rats?
Cowperthwaite said SeaWorld should instead create oceanic sanctuaries that will let the whales live out their lives in more natural environments.
It’s difficult to assess how the whales do in captivity, said Dr. Douglas DeMaster, the research and science director for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Alaska region fisheries.
How would you do, doc?
"Minke whale is found dead in Barnstable Harbor" by Kiera Blessing | Globe correspondent August 11, 2014
An 18-foot minke whale was found dead in Barnstable Harbor near Millway Marina Sunday morning, officials said.
The whale was originally spotted Saturday afternoon and monitored by the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Barnstable harbormaster, said Michael Booth, a spokesman for fund. The whale was originally seen in the harbor in open water with the ability to swim, so a team from the fund did not make a rescue attempt, Booth said.
On Sunday, the animal was found dead near the marina.
Booth said that the fund was trying to get permission to perform a necropsy on the stranded animal to determine its cause of death, but that it could be days before the results were available. He said he expected the carcass would be removed from the harbor some time on Monday.
Though the whale has been left in the harbor since it was discovered Sunday morning, Booth said it poses no health or safety concerns, though it could if it were left in the water for an extended period of time.
Booth said incidents like this are relatively unusual.
“It is a unique event to have a large baleen whale like an 18-foot minke whale strand,” Booth said. “It doesn’t happen every day, but I wouldn’t say it’s completely out of the blue.”
Booth said the local fund team, which covers the shoreline from Plymouth to the Rhode Island border, responds to about 300 to 500 stranded animals per year.
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